Concepts and Goals
Goals:
1) Create a 2 1/2" scale railroad
2) Make the railroad dual gauge for both 7 1/2" and 7 1/4" gauge
3) Set up the railroad for operations such as card order
4) Set up the railroad for bi-directional running of trains
5) Make good use of ten acres without crowding in tracks
6) Make use of long lasting materials
7) Unloading facilities
8) Shop and storage facilities
9) RV parking and services
10) Guest cabins
11) Rental Trains
Concepts:
2
1/2" scale, this is the correct scale for modeling 3' narrow gauge trains on 7
1/2" track.
In this scale 2 1/2" = 1', this works out to a scale of 1:4.8 or just a little
smaller the 1/4 scale.
While the trains and track will be built to this exact scale the structures that
go with
the RR will be built to 3" = 1'. This is exactly 1/4 scale and will make the
narrow gauge
trains look just a little smaller and give more room in the structures for
storage and such.
Dual gauge, by this I mean that both trains of 7 1/4" and 7 1/2" gauge can
operate
on the same track. To accomplish this I am making one stipulation, the RR is
built to cater
to 2 1/2" scale trains or larger. With this you have trains with wider wheel
treads and
as such the 7 1/4" gauge trains with the wider wheel treads are able to operate on the
wider 7 1/2" gauge
track.
Special consideration will be given to the areas such as switches, wheel check,
flange
way clearances, etc... to make this possible.
NOTE:
All 7 1/2" gauge trains are welcome no matter what scale. But, 1.5", 1.6" and
1.7" scale
trains of 7 1/4" gauge will NOT be able to operate on this track unless they
have wheel
treads wider than normal IBLS standards.
If there is no interest in any visiting 7 1/4" this idea may be deleted?
Operations,
this is where you simulate the actions of a real RR. This means trains
are made up in yards and engines come from the engine terminal to be put on the
train.
The train is then coupled to a caboose and tested while the crew (usually an
engineer,
conductor and sometimes a brakeman) gets their track orders (these tell any new
or
extra info about the track such as speed, switches out of service, etc...) and
their
work order.
The work order tells them what cars in their train go to what places and what
cars
they need to pick up as the go on their route as well as what route to follow.
Bi-directional
running, this is where trains can run in both directions on the same track.
With this type of running trains can meet and pass each other in sidings or
passing tracks.
This is different from single directional running where trains only run in one
specified
direction. Usually you find single directional running on tracks with just a
basic loop.
Where as bi-directional running is more common on point to point railroads.
Ten
acres, while to some this may seem like an unlimited space there is still only
so
much you can put on 10 acres. I have seen railroads on as little as 1/3 acre and
some
built on the side of a mountain. Others are on 100's of acres or more. Mine will
be
somewhere in the middle as you would expect. I am planning on having a good long
track which I hope to be close to 10,000' feet with a main line run of at least
half that.
Even though the property is heavily wooded I don't want to put the tracks so
close
together that you can see from one track to another. I plan to use natural view
blocks
such as trees, bushes, hills and valleys where ever possible and if needed plant
evergreens to use as view blocks.
Long
lasting materials, this will be a life time railroad for me. Meaning I plan on
it lasting
at least my life time and hopefully longer. With this in mind I am planning on
using plastic
ties (I don't need to be replacing 30,000 pressure treated ties 25 years from
now when I
am 60!), steel rail, aluminum rail and tie plates as needed, stainless steel
track screws. I
have not yet looked into bridges, tunnels, structures or other items, but they
will also
get similar considerations even if a slightly higher cost is involved.
We will be using some 5,000 pressure treated ties that we already have on hand
to get
the railroad up and going.
Unloading
facilities, to get equipment on and off the property and specifically on/off
the track there needs to be facilities that make this as easy as possible. This
is needed
even if it is for just my personal equipment, but I also plan to make it as easy
as possible
for people visiting with equipment. I plan to have two separate loading areas,
one near
the engine facilitates will be mainly for engines and include a lift and
turntable. One near
the main yard will be mainly for cars and most likely will not have a lift. I
will also try
to plan parking areas for vehicles and trailers.
Shop
building and storage facilities, there is currently a 42' x 27' shop building
with
half of that being enclosed and including water, electric, heat/cooling and
phone service.
I hope to enclose the other half as well and construct a garage for additional
space.
Freight and passenger car storage will be handled with a 10' x 30' steel garden
shed
type building. More such buildings can be purchased in the future to add to this
length.
This building is located directly behind the shop building.
Engine storage will hopefully be in a roundhouse complete with a turntable, this
would
be somewhere to the right of the shop building.
RV's,
trailers and campers, these are becoming increasingly more common and seem to
be the preferred way to travel with large scale trains. As such I plan to set
aside an area
for motor homes, campers, trailers and RV's in general. I hope to have space for
4-6
RV's and provide power (30 amp) and water. On board holding tanks will have to
used
for waste water. They may be a minimal fee for use of these services.
Guest
cabins, I hope to be able to provide 2-3 guest cabins most likely near the rear
or possibly the middle of the property. These will be in the style of small log
cabins
amenities will vary from cabin to cabin. The minimum will be a single bed and
bath
to possibly a full cabin with two beds, a bath and a kitchen. These will be
located
trackside and you will have to get to them by train. Each will have a private
siding
and possibly a storage building for trains. There will be a fee for staying in
the cabins.
There will be more to these than just building them as they are over 1,000' from
any
electric or water. As such this project will also include drilling a well, solar
and/or wind
generation of electricity and water pumping. The surplus water will then be
piped 1,000'
to the front of the property for use in generating electricity through a small
water turbine
which will supplement the main house and shop.
Rental
trains, may be available for guests and visitors without their own equipment.
Trains will be small with one 4 wheel battery powered loco, one or two cars and
a
caboose. There will be a small fee for the use of the trains.
12/03/04